Heartfulness, living with the voice of your heart
We have all heard of, and some of us practice, mindfulness. But hardly anyone has heard of heartfulness, let alone knows what it is. We know that mindfulness is the art of bringing your awareness to the present moment, unencumbered by memories of the past or worries about the future. It is about giving 100% of your attention to what is going on right now. This practice fosters focus, clarity, sharpened awareness and lightness. All are essential elements for living an enriched life. However, mindfulness stops short of showing you how to interact with the present moment once you bring your full attention to it. This is where heartfulness comes in. It is, therefore, a complementary practice to mindfulness that brings to the forefront the voice of the heart which we have learned to ignore. Some of us ignore it so resolutely that we wouldn’t even acknowledge that such a voice exists. In a manner of speaking, heartfulness goes against many of the practices that we are habitual to. This is not a fault of anyone. Our society favors a rational, logical, and linear way of thinking. This consequently engenders a rational and logical way of viewing the world, which is a characteristic of our daily human experience. It is what we have been taught since we were born. The ubiquity of this view, however, does not mean that it is the only one, or even the best one, available to us. As a matter of fact, it could be the reason behind many of the challenges the world faces today.
To get familiar with heartfulness, we need to understand what a rational way of thinking entails. Our ideas about the world come to us from our culture, society, education, media, and family. People who are exposed to similar cultural identity, or similar education, share, more or less, similar ideas and see the world in the same way. The main tenet of this worldview is that the world is objective, material and independent from us. It says that we are individuals struggling for survival and that the fittest among us win that struggle. Therefore, this worldview promotes competition for resources, which are seen as scarce, to ensure survival even if it comes at the expense of others. This attitude breeds concerns, worries, stress, mistrust, and fear. Undoubtedly, this is how our world operates today. In contrast to that, heartfulness sees the world as material only on the surface. Under the surface, we and the world are intimately connected. The world is, therefore, subjective and our ideas about it shape it and shape our experience within it. From the heart’s point of view, whatever we put out in the world comes back to us because, at some level, we and the world are one. This view promotes collaboration, compassion, connection, understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, and love. Needless to say, we don’t encounter this worldview often today.
There is a time and place for everything. Rational thinking is essential when we want to build a hospital, send a man to the moon, or manufacture a smartphone. But if we use rationality in human interactions, we bring all its attributes, such as fear and mistrust, to that interaction. This will ultimately bring ruin to our relationships and ensure that we stay separated and not connected. Intuitively, we understand that in order to relate to another human being we need to be empathetic and compassionate. We need open hearts to connect constructively with others. The rules of communicating with an open heart are vastly different from those of communicating rationally. To act and communicate from your heart, as a way of life, is heartfulness. In every moment you pay attention to and follow the guidance of your heart instead of your rational mind. The word “heart” is synonymous and equal to “inner self”, “inner light”, or “divine guidance”. However, the emphasis here is not on the word or the label. Words and labels can only confuse because we use them indiscriminately. Somehow, instead of conveying the truth, they veil it because the rational mind is fixated on terminologies. The heart, on the other hand, is not interested in labels at all because it knows that the truth can only be known through experience. Yet, I cannot, just by writing words, give you an experience to show you how I live with heartfulness. The next best thing that I can do is to tell you about an experience of my own. I will share with you the experience I am going through right now as I am writing.
Heartfulness leads you to be your authentic self
I have worked very hard all my life to present myself to the world with a certain image. I wanted everyone to see me as competent, dependable, neat, articulate, having it together and knowing what I am talking about. I prepared as much as I could and bluffed my way through the rest with assertive, confident opinions. I wanted everything I said to be as correct as possible and prepared arguments that took intellectual and moral higher grounds in case I was challenged. I never wanted to be proven wrong or seen as someone who does not know what he is talking about, especially in public. This façade was created by my rational mind because this how my environment taught me to be. In truth, this façade is meant to hide an inner feeling of insecurity about my social image. I had this feeling of being a fraud, a clueless imposter that is mortified of being exposed for the charlatan he is. No amount of knowledge or preparation can satiate this monster of a feeling. Even as I am writing these words in the security of my home, I feel as if I am about to go on a stage in front of thousands of people. And as the spotlight is focused on me, I discover that I am wearing nothing but my underwear, or worse yet, I am fully naked. It is a nightmare scenario that causes my palms to sweat, my heart to palpitate and my chest to tighten despite my knowledge that it is only a thought in my head.
This difference between the façade I used to project and the truth of how I feel illustrates the difference between rationality and heartfulness. The former wants to project an image that is not real, pretending to be better or more knowledgeable than his audience. He hides behind his titles, big words, carefully crafted sentences and arguments to intimidate and secure his place. The latter is speaking from his authenticity without any pretense, saying it as he feels it, raw and ugly as it is. My heart is interested in demolishing the image that my rational mind has created. It is not doing that intending to elicit pity or to draw attention, but to show the real me, vulnerable as I am. The rational mind does not see a value in vulnerability; to the contrary, it sees it as a weakness. The heart, on the other hand, believes that in being authentic you accept yourself as you are, warts and all. With this acceptance, you also accept others as they are, warts and all. We all share the same vulnerability in different forms. This is our humanness binding us together. By seeing yourself as you are, you see others as they are, hurt, vulnerable and seeking understanding, support and love. This way, we can inch closer to each other instead of erecting new barriers. This is the harmonious living that heartfulness brings to us.
This is only one simple example of how heartfulness can bring our authenticity to the forefront. Definitely, it is not sufficient to demonstrate the richness of heartfulness, which is more like a journey. Like every journey, it invites you to travel through and explore it because this is the only way to get to know it. It is not something that you can pick up by reading a book or participating in a few weeks long course. It requires a commitment. This is not because it is difficult, but because you will need to unlearn most of what you have learned from our rational society. This unlearning is needed so that you can reach your authentic self and see the world with the eyes of that self. Our environment and society have shaped our ideas about everything, including the world we perceive. More importantly than anything else, it has shaped our ideas about ourselves. And we need to give up these ideas before we can reach our authenticity. It took me about 19 years to switch from a rational worldview, which has been shoved down my throat by society, to a heartful worldview that is coming from my authenticity. You don’t need that much time to reach the same point; I was just an extreme case of obstinate resistance to such a shift. Despite that resistance, here I am finally able to see life in its magical glory. And I can attest that the final result was worth the time and effort needed to reach it. Now, I speak my unique truth with my authentic voice. I am enjoying the unfoldment of my life’s journey without worries or egoistical expectations. I know what my purpose in life is, and I am living it. I am no longer concerned whether I will succeed in achieving any goals or not because I learned to trust the moment I am living. This is what it is like to be living authentically and in harmony with life. This peaceful and authentic way of living can also be yours. All you need is a desire to see the world differently and a commitment to listen to your heart. You have, inside of you, all you need to be the authentic human you are destined to be. This is the version of you that will bring your light to the world. And I cannot wait to see your light.